Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Mar-Millor Campaign 1.0 Adventure Log Sessions 13-14

Session 13-  Tying (Dying) Up Loose Ends  3am Day 37.


After the ambush in the Golden Grain, the party awakens from their unconsciousness/held condition in a

dirty, crude tunnel system underground.  Unknown where they have been moved to, they estimate they

have been out for an hour or two.  They grab the barely lit torch and find a second one in the dirt and

clean it off and prepare to use both as a light source.  The party, being quite paranoid about their situation,

had each secreted a dagger, save Belgium who had his holy symbol.  Armed with dagger and torches, the

party hears banging down one of the tunnels.  Investigating, they find two ghouls banging the wall of an

alcove.  Belgium was able to turn them and he shooed them away down a northeast passage.  Investigating

where the ghouls were banging, Thantas finds a secret door which opens to a small hidden room containing

two empty chests and the hirelings Mondius and Manuel!  Rescued again!  The men say they were drugged

by drinks served at the Golden Grain Inn.  It was likely Snigrot the surly cook.  From there they awoke in the

caves in front of the open secret door.  They found a suit of chainmail with a leather decorative spider web design

on it, a shield and a sword, but were accosted by 2 ghouls, and their only defense was to hide in the secret room

and barricade the door.  After probing deeper in the caves they find an ivory statue of a strange snake creature

with an eerie human-like head.  Draden uses his tome and knowledge to identify

the creature as some type of Naga, there are several types.  Trying to avoid the ghoul, the party heads northwest

back the way they came, and finds the staff and rope used to tie up Thantas.  Mandigor fastens a spear using the

rope and his magic dagger.  They then come to a chamber with some debris.  Investigating a pile, Mandigor

startles a Mudviper snake, but it is cold and slow and misses.  The party decides to leave it alone.  Heading the last direction

yet to be explored, the party comes to a heavy wooden door which is firmly set in a frame and likely barred. 

Having donned the chain, Mandigor busts down the door, surprising whoever is on the other side.  Upon the bum

rush, the party realizes they are in the basement of the Golden Grain, the tunnels being dug into the side of a secret

room next to the kegs.  In the room are Derek, the rogue, divvying up the party’s treasure with Whit, Belgium’s

no-longer henchman, and Bertram and Snigrot.  Also in the room are three troglodytes who are trying to tie up and

likely eat Gunter, Malden’s dog.  The party gets surprise, and Draden’s sleep spell takes out almost everything,

except for a Trog, Which Malden happily dispatches and saves his dog.  They do hear two guards outside run away

and begin to call for the Sheriff.  Derek, being the only person left after the spell, surrenders after being stabbed in

the chest by Mandigor’s spear.  The party begins to quickly grab their stuff, they grab Derek too.  They begin to

arm themselves and barricade the basement in a last stand.  At that, they hear combat up the stairs, and the cries of

the 2 felling guards.  They then are approached by the 2 elves hired by the mayor to investigate.  They inform the

party that a large mob is gathering and they would not be able to fight them all off, a last stand would be suicide. 

They quickly implore the party to trust them and they all run from the Golden Grain, moments before 2 mobs of

people including the sheriff and the deputies descend on the inn.  They flee up the road along the path that leads to

Ramne.  They pause, realizing the mob is not chasing them into the woods, they begin to get information from the

elves and interrogate Derek.  Derek had pleaded to tell the party of the Master.  He says the master is running a

kidnapping ring from the south through Orlane north into the Dim Forest.  He seeks reputation or notoriety and

seems to be trying to court or impress someone or something.  He also seems to have a truce with whatever is

affecting the people of Orlane. He says three of the Masters people live in Orlane, and traffic people in small

groups at night.   The elves share what they know, confirming that people are being charmed away from the

village then return a week or so later clearly altered, angry, groggy, distant.  They confer about the Naga statue,

and they say if it was a Spirit Naga it would be able to charm victims, creating a cult of easily controlled followers. 

This is a likely possibility, and the most likely ringleader of the plot is the clerics in the Temple of Merrika.  After getting

all the information they can from Derek, Mandigor slays him with the magic spear.  Realizing that by fully

wielding the dagger reveals all of its powers, he feels a little bit bad about killing the prisoner after he honored his

end of the bargain.  The dagger reveals itself to be a Cursed Dagger of Opposite Alignment.  The party decides to

visit Ramne, get some information, and lay low for a bit.  They head off into the woods towards the hermit camp. 

End session 8am Day 37.


Session 14-  Respite in the Hermit’s Hollow  Day 37 8am


The party agrees to go visit old Ramne and see what information he has about the cult while the elves sneak back to town

and observe how the cult is reacting to the party’s battle in the Golden Grain Inn.  On the walk to Ramne’s, Thantas

sixth sense kicks in to a location not far off the path, the party pauses, listens, observes, hears or sees nothing, and

decides to move on and not investigate.  They get to Ramne’s without further disturbance, to find the hermit’s

peaceful hidden hollow under the shade of a giant elm tree.  He has a humble but comfortable abode, a small hut,

and plenty of firewood and supplies.  He also has a little animal friend, a weasel named Whiskers.  He tells the party

he’s been watching their dealings in Orlane, as has Whiskers, and he’s pleased that they dealt a harsh blow to the

cult.  He tells them he is a former adventurer who used to protect this land with this party, but has become too old

and frail to be a hero any more.  He has watched the cult slowly take over the town, and as they got more established,

he was mostly banished from town.  When the party tells him about the statue of a Naga that they found in the

basement of the Golden Grain, he tells the party that the naga is likely Expliticus Defilus, an old nemesis of his

party’s that he thought was permanently defeated.  Seeing that this is not the case, and that Defilus still lives and is

building a cult, he tells them of her power levels, and her most common tactics.  She is likely lairing somewhere

nearby and bringing victims to her to be charmed.  They must find her lair and defeat her to break up the curse of

the cult.  He gives the party a scroll of Minor Globe of Invulnerability and 2 scrolls of dispel magic, to counter the

creature’s fireball spell and her gaze charm attack. He also tells them that Whiskers will be able to track a scent

back to the Naga’s lair if provided one of the Naga’s trog followers, or any person who has recently been to her

lair.   He will allow Whiskers to accompany the party back to town in the hopes the party can use him to locate

Defilus.  The party mulls this over and gets fed and well rested. They rest the rest of the day and all night at the

hermit’s abode.  The party and Ramne agree that the clerics in the temple are likely the root of the activity, and

discuss ways to get into the temple.  They decide to depart in the morning and will finalize their plan then.  The

following morning, at the area where Thantas heard something, they go investigate.  They find a hidden wooden

shack big enough for 2-3 people hidden in the woods.  Its open but a heavy iron lock hangs on the door.  It looks

like it could be used as a place to hide kidnapees, and the party finds signs of a struggle on the ground outside the

structure.  They also find the same spider web pattern on the inside of the door that was on the suit of chainmail

they found.  The symbol is starting to link back to Lareth, The Master.  Session ends Day 38 10 am.


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